Rainbow Six Siege is soon launching the third season of Year 8, entitled Operation Heavy Mettle. It will introduce a new South Korean operator named Ram, a new commendation system, and a variety of tweaks to game modes and player characters. Operation Heavy Mettle is set to release on August 29.

　　New operator Ram is an attacker with a BU-GI Auto-Breacher gadget. With her automated tank, Ram can destroy walls and floors to open up tactical advantages. A tank can smash gadgets and soft surfaces. Ram is a one-speed, three-health operator. Her loadout includes a R4C or LMG-E for the primary weapon and an MK1 or ITA12S for the secondary weapon.

　　The season will also bring a new commendation system to Rainbow Six. It will allow players to rate each other on what it was like to play together. The system is moderated to ensure fairness. Highly commended players will also be rewarded, with a legendary Alpha Pack drop at the end of the season. According to internal review, around 50% of players who were given a warning for toxicity or abuse changed their behavior and avoiding a second penalty.

　　As for other changes, Unranked is now called Standard and allows players to experience Rainbow Six Siege without operator or map bans. Quick Match has also been reworked. Players can get into matches faster, objective locations are automatically revealed, and bomb sites are initially set up with reinforcements, helping defenders build out more strategic defenses. In Quick Match, attackers start with 10-seconds of invulnerability at the beginning of the action phase. A new mode called Weapons Roulette is also debuting. In this mode, all players start with the same weapon, which automatically swaps to a different weapon after a set amount of time.

　　The season will also launch with balancing updates for operator Grim and improvements for the shotgun ecosystem. Fuze is now able to use cluster charges on deployable shields and Osa’s Talon-8 shields. After the season's launch, a rework of operator Frost is on the docket. Lastly, this season will introduce tutorials, which will allow new players to get their foot in the door.

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